frenulum

1. Anatomy. A small frenum.
2. Entomology. A bristly structure on the hind wings of certain moths and butterflies that holds the forewings and hind wings together during flight.

[New Latin frēnulum, diminutive of Latin frēnum, bridle. See frenum.]

A small frenum or band of fibrous material.

Pl. frenula [L.] a small fold of integument or mucous membrane that limits the movements of an organ or part.

• clitoridal f. — a fold from the clitoridal fossa to the clitoris.
• f. linguae — frenulum of tongue.
• lingual f. — the vertical fold of mucous membrane under the tongue, attaching it to the floor of the mouth; called also frenulum linguae.

  Lingual frenulum of the dog. By permission from Sack W, Wensing CJG, Dyce KM, Textbook of Veterinary Anatomy, Saunders, 2002

• f. of lip — a median fold of mucous membrane connecting the inside of each lip to the corresponding gum.
• penile preputial f. — thin ventral sheet of preputial skin and connective tissue forming a fold under the penis and connecting its ventral raphe with the preputial mucosa. Normally breaks down at the approach of puberty. Persistence of a part of the frenulum causes deviation and incomplete protrusion of the penis and inability to mate, is an inherited defect in cattle. Most cases can be satisfactorily corrected surgically.
• superior medullary velum f. — a band lying in the superior medullary velum at its attachment to the inferior colliculi in the brain.

"Frenula" redirects here. For the brachiopod genus, see Frenula (brachiopod)

Look up frenulum in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A frenulum (or frenum, plural: frenula or frena, from the Latin frēnulum, "little bridle", the diminutive of frēnum ) is a small fold of tissue that secures or restricts the motion of a mobile organ in the body.

In human anatomy

Frenula on the human body include several in the mouth, some in the digestive tract, and some connected to the external genitalia.

• Oral tissue: Frenula of the mouth include the frenulum linguae under the tongue, the frenulum labii superioris inside the upper lip, the frenulum labii inferioris inside the lower lip, and the buccal frena which connect the cheeks to the gum. These can easily be torn by violent blows to the face or mouth, thus a torn frenulum is sometimes a warning sign of physical abuse.
• Vulvular tissue: In females, genital frenula include the frenulum clitoridis of the clitoris and the frenulum labiorum pudendi (aka fourchette) where the labia minora meet at the back.
• Penile tissue: The word frenulum on its own is often used for the frenulum of prepuce of penis or frenulum preputii penis, which is an elastic band of tissue under the glans penis that connects to the prepuce, or foreskin to the vernal mucosa, and helps contract the prepuce over the glans.
• Brain: Frenulum veli

An overly short oral or genital frenulum may require a frenectomy or frenuloplasty to achieve normal mobility.

In entomology

The word frenulum also refers to a bristle present at the root of the hindwing of most moths which engages with a small hook on the forewing to join the wings together.

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